Lily's Hope
by NShadows
Summary: The story of Lily Sloane....hope it hasn't been done before...
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Star Trek, and I bow to the memory of Gene Roddenberry!

Lily had never considered herself a scientist.

A scrounger? Yes. A survivor? Definitely.

Oh, she'd done her part to help put togther the Phoenix, but stuff like that had always been eady for her. She's never considered it 'science'.

Lily's mother had told her stories about how the world had been before the war. Cities had covered hundreds of miles, and children had gone to school and even played, rather than working just to survive. These stories had taught Lily hope.

Lily had seen her share of her battles. She'd watched an ECON blast her home into almost nothing. Her parents had hopefully never known what was coming.

It had been time to grow up then.

So she'd scavenged her own home, collecting what she could use, and set out for a place to make her own.

Years had passed, and somehow she's ended up in what had once been Montana. She'd been passing along what had once been a highway, when a group of men appeared and asked what a pretty girl like her was doing all alone.

Lily had shot two of them before they'd overpowered her and gotten her gun away. They struck her to the ground, and she stopped hoping for a miracle.

Then a shotgun blast had torn through the air. Then another. Lily threw her arms over her head, and missed her attackers being shot.

For several moments she'd just lain there, and then she'd rolled over and sat up to see three men walking towards her. In the lead was an older man, roughly the same age as her father would be, a shotgun in one hand. He held his hand out to Lily.

Lily ignored his hand and stood, wary. "Thanks."

The man gave a slow grin. "Of course. Just passing by. Where you headed?"

Lily shrugged. "Wherever. What are you guys doing out here?"

One of her other rescuers, her age, sighed. "Trying to find parts for a generator."

Despite herself, she felt her curiosity welling up. "Which parts?" Seeing their suspicious looks, she rushed to explain herself. "I know a little about building things."

"Weel, then," said the apparent leader, still grinning. "You know anything about jukeboxes?"

Lily shrugged. "Maybe a little." Truth was, she'd never even seen a jukebox.

"All right. Those two behind me are Gregor and Bud. I'm Zephram, but call me Zee."

Liliy blinked at him. "Lily."

"Okay, Lily. You look at our jukebox and we'll feed you for the night."

With nothing better to do, and a new rifle in hand, she agreed.

Fixing the jukebox turned into a three or four day project, and when it was done, Z recruited her to help with the generator. Then the hydraulics on the silo's doors.

By the end of the month, she knew she was there to stay, and she hoped it was for a while.

Z took her under his wing. He taught her things about propulsion, aerodynamics, and other things that were just as mythical.

Their relaitonship was one of debate at first. It was never like that, though, as Lily often explained. He was not only onld enough to be her father, he treated her like a daughter.

Plus, he most definitely like women that wouldn't be permanent. Flings, he called them, and she called him ridiculous. More than once, she'd pulled him out of an encounter with a boyfriend ot husband.

It was space he loved. He would sit for hours and talk about what was out there. He'd get a boyish gleam in his eye and pour them both a drink and look up at the stars and talk and talk.

Still, when he started work on the Phoenix, it was for money, and glory. People that had faired better would pay good chunks of change if he could make the Phoenix work. The world was already changing in the war's aftermath, picking up the pieces and trying to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.

Lily and Z had joked together many times about how they'd spend their money. So they built the Phoenix and Lily couldn't help but love the ship more than just a little.

Then the Phoenix was ready and they went to the bar to celebrate.

Whew!

This is my first Star Trek fanfic. It will probably be a three or four chapter story. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Star Trek, and I bow to the memory of Gene Roddenberry!

When they were attacked, it was just like her parents house all over again, and she'd been sure it was an ECON. Lily lost track of Z, and head for the Phoenix, hoping for the best.

She'd been in the silo a few moments when she heard strange voices. She went for her rifle, and headed back, feeling ill, hoping no one would harm the Phoenix.

Then she realized she must be ill, because that man had jumped...

Oh, dizzy.

When she'd woken up she'd thought she was in a new type of prison. A very odd prison. When they'd evacuated, it had been easy to escape the others.

Then she'd met Picard, and listened to him.

Her whole world changed.

He tried to be careful what he told her, she noticed.

Lily began to hope for a better future again. For the future her mother had inspired her to imagine.

"What about me? What do I become in this future?" She had asked innocently enough. When he didn't answer as they strode along the corridors, she began to panic. "Hey, you hear me?"

"Yes, I heard you," he said distractedly. "I can't reveal anything."

"Okay. Well, can you tell me about Z? Do you know if he's okay?"

When Picard hesitated, Lily got angry. "Hey!" She grabbed his arm. "I'm not asking his whole life story. I just want to know he's okay after the attack by your Swedish friends."

Picard winced. "I don't know, Lily. The Borg came back to change history. I don't know if they've succeeded."

Lily let go of his arm. "He better be okay."

Picard hesitated. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you what I don't know."

Lily huffed. "If they hurt him, I'll kill them all myself. Soon as I let him out of my sight he'd get hurt." She saw a flash of both humor and respect cross his face, and then they were on the move again.

She was so disappointed when Picard refused to abandon the ship, and that fueled the anger that caused her to remember her father's favorite book.

His quoting that same book embarrassed her, but she realized the future was educated, and civilized. It gave her hope all over again.

When the Vulcans arrived, apparently on schedule, she couldn't help wish ing she could go with Picard to the future. To see what it was like. Still, when Z had seen her, pulled her into a hug and introduced her to the Vulcans, she was glad she was right when she was.

She became Lily Erickson the year after First Contact. Z walked her down the aisle, and proudly gave her away. It was an old joke between them when Z paid for a honeymoon for them on a private island.

Lily tried to stay close to Z, she really did. But after the Phoenix had made it's flight, and the Vulcans had appeared...

The whole world had changed.

Lily worked with her husband on different projects with the Vulcans. She was able to call Z every week, but he was always so busy, and even a vacation wasn't a vacation for the hounded man.

He was considered the savior of Earth. Everywhere he went, hundreds, sometimes thousands of people waited just to see a glimpse of him. She knew he hated it.

Then one morning, she called him, and he came on the line, worry in his voice. "Lily? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, startled. "What made you think that?"

"You only call on Thursdays, and today's Tuesday," he said, relief in his voice.

"I have good news," She waited a heartbeat. "I'm pregnant, Zephram."

A shout came across loud and clear. "Wonderful!"

"I almost called you before I even told Gregor," she laughed.

There was silence for several seconds, and then his decisive tone came across. "That's it, then. We're going on vacation. I'll get Gregor off work."

God had spoken, Lily couldn't help but think, as they arrived back on their honeymoon island where Z had built himself a home. He met them at the door.

After dinner there was reminiscing, and then Gregor called it a night and headed up to their rooms. Z went into the bar and came back with tequila for himself, and orange juice for her. They drank in silence for several moments, content to watch the ocean.

"I ran."

Lily looked over, and he smiled, still staring at the ocean.

"I was listening to all the future-people, watching them. They worshipped me, and they kept expecting me to be...someone else. I panicked, and I ran." He chuckled. "I don't know where the Hell I was going. They caught me, of course."

"Is it like that now? You want to run?"

He didn't answer at first."I can't, not yet. I wouldn't get very far, would I?" Somebody would track me down." He took a dee breath. "When I run, I'm not coming back. I just want to be left alone."

There was silence again, until Lily asked, very softly. "Do you ever think about them?"

"The future people? Yeah, a lot. Especially when I drink, which is often."

They both laughed, and Lily grinned at him. "You ever read Moby Dick?"

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